Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
OFA: Hmm… That’s a tricky one!
I think we would be best described as pure chaos meets sweet serenity.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc. What is the band’s lineup?
OFA: So, Insonika started as a three piece with current singer and guitarist Oscar (me), bassist Daniel as well as our original drummer Mattias.
It started off as a jam project in 2017 that turned into a band and we wrote tons of music and toured extensively. During Covid current rhythm guitarist Sebastian joined, but first on keyboards, after a while we found that guitar and backing vocals/screams suited him better and he switched. He still does keyboards on our recordings. And in 2024 we had to part ways with Mattias and Simon joined the band on drums and now we’ve started our journey towards making music that we love and playing shows that we want to do.
So the lineup is:
Oscar Flanagan Allerdahl – guitar and vocals
Daniel Englafors – bass
Sebastian Fingal – synths, guitar and backing vocals
Simon James – drums
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
OFA: So as musical influences go each member has their distinct tastes. I (Oscar) love Metallica, VOLA and Ghost whereas Daniel loves to listen to everything from the most brutal black metal to the slowest of doom songs. Sebastian, he’s more of a classic rock lover with bits and pieces of modern metal mixed in there and Simon’s biggest influence is Pantera, as well as some jazz and other unexpected influences mixed in there.
When we write our songs we take inspiration from what’s going on in the world, and in our own private lives. We try to write about whatever comes to us, which tends to be the fall of mankind and decay of life as we know it… Such chipper subjects, we know!
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
OFA: We want to be able to play the music that we love, in front of other people that love music as much, or more, as we do.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
OFA: The proudest moment so far, for me at least, is doing our own DIY tour in 2019. We started off in Estonia and ended in Serbia and we were away for about three weeks. It was epic and lots of people came to see our madness.
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
OFA: Haha, you don’t have to tell us twice! It’s a hassle and we’re managing I would say. We’re firm believers in just putting ourselves out there and asking for help where we need. The people who want to listen will come eventually!
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
OFA: We do all of it ourselves, through persistent emailing and badgering of local promoters… It’s a grueling process but it has to be done! No shows coming up that have been 100% booked, but we have lots in the planning stage!
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
OFA: Being from Sweden I feel like Spotify is a great source of pride to our country. And it is an amazing platform that gives you an opportunity to reach millions of people. Every good thing comes with its negative sides and Spotify is no exception.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
OFA: I do wish I’d written Sad But True, it’s just one of the heaviest songs in the whole world. That main riff is just so damn good and lyrically as well as melodically it is a fantastic piece of art.
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
OFA: The music industry is a demon that all of us musicians have to wrestle with. It has many ups and downs, but I feel like the thing I would change is the difficulty of “breaking through the noise”. With so many people writing so much music it’s quite hard to break through. But it’s a two edged sword, because I do love music and I don’t want people to stop making music…
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
OFA: At the moment we’ve just finished our upcoming single, it’s a little track called “Ashes of Certainty” and it’s being released everywhere where you can stream music on June 13th. The heaviest track we’ve ever written and also the best if you ask me. Other than that we’re in full on recording mode trying to finish as many songs as possible to release as singles this year.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online, have you any Social Media links that you can share?
OFA: Our socials are:
https://www.facebook.com/insonikaband
https://www.instagram.com/insonikaband
https://insonikaband.bandcamp.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCt4BV_GMAnmcSjWWch2lS3A
https://www.spotify.com/artist/4bHYksMzf6WNwf6Cgv5Mdo
All the best!
Insonika links:
Band/Artist location – Jönköping, Sweden
Facebook – You Tube – Bandcamp – Merch –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – LinkTree – TikTok – Last Fm –
Check our page for Insonika
